Research shows that nearly one in five 10-14-year-olds have been given a whole
alcoholic drink by their parents during the festive season

Parents are serving alcohol to children as young as six over the festive period – despite most claiming they would not give their child a whole alcoholic drink.

Parents took to forum Mumsnet to argue over when children are old enough to get a taste of alcohol – and complained about ‘spawn of the devil’ alcopops that resemble soft drinks and encourage teens to ‘get really rat arsed’.

The news comes in the wake of research showing that nearly one in five 10-14-year-olds say they have been given a whole alcoholic drink by their parents during the festive season.

One commenter on the thread wrote: “We were at a family meal a couple of weeks ago and our six-year-old darling daughter asked for some wine.

“We put a little in a glass and topped it up with water. Darling daughter drank some and for the last two weeks has been going on about how horrible wine is.”

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Another wrote: “My four-year-old stuck her tongue in my champagne on Christmas day. She hated it LOL.”

“I think it depends on the maturity of the child though; at 14 I wasn’t mature enough to drink responsibly, but some of my friends were.”

It is illegal for parents to give children under the age of five alcohol.

Not all parents on the forum were as cavalier about giving their children alcohol, however.

One wrote: “Allowing a child to taste to take away the mystery and show it tastes horrible is okay but giving them a proper glass of wine or whiskey? Totally wrong.”

Alcopops also caused heated debate.

One commenter said that she would “give a 12-year-old an alcopop at a wedding or family occasion”.

Another parent disagreed, however. They wrote: “I'm really strongly against alcopops as they are specifically designed to taste like normal pop and they encourage teens to get really rat arsed.

“I nearly accidentally bought a purple one for darling daughter as I saw it next to the coke while looking for a nice Christmas drink for her, and it was only under closer examination that I saw it was alcoholic (4 per cent).”

Another described alcopops as “spawn of the devil”.

Nearly one in five 10-14-year-olds say they have been given a whole alcoholic drink by their parents during the festive season, despite 84% of parents declaring that they would not give their child such a drink, according to research released last month by alcohol education charity Drinkaware.

Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive of Drinkaware said: “Drinkaware’s advice is clear: alcohol should not be drunk underage and parents are best placed to enforce this.

“They can do this by being prepared to talk to their children about alcohol and letting them know they disapprove of underage drinking.”